Consumer Reports throws justa's under the bus
 

I have always considered Consumer Reports reliability ratings as one of the best. Up to this year, they showed separate reliability rating for the MCS and MC because of the large difference in problems. From 2007 to 2013 they rated the MC as average to better than average and recommended it. The MCS was rated as much worse than average and was not recommended. In 2014 they only show Mini Cooper combining the MC and MCS. They now are using the MCS reliability since they have to use the worst of two. Consequently they do not recommend either now. This makes the Justa look much worse now than it really is. Based on everything I have read, the Justa is much better in reliability than they show and shouldn't be considered an unreliable car.






'Morris' 20the 11 MC, PW/B, 28,000 Trouble free miles

I hear that. I know I'm happy with the so far reliability of my 2012 Clubman S which I've seem at the top of their list and at the bottom before buying.
I've been following the Consumer Reports MINI ratings for 3 years and see them change month to month from excellent to crap and back. It's the same with the (yuck) Fiats, smart phones and laptops. Great today crap tomorrow and great the next day.....
Consumer Reports has proven itself to be about a useless rag anymore.

All new minis are turbocharged, no more "justas", right ?

Yes, the base Cooper gets a turbochared 1.5L three cylinder, and the Cooper S moves up to a turbocharged 2.0L four cylinder. I wonder how long it will be until tuners start offering upgrades for the 1.5L, could be interesting.

The one report I saw had the Mini ranked dead last. This was based on complaints over a three year period, so the car year in question is a 2011. They also went on to say that this was the first year in over 20 years that the quality of cars went down. I was surprised to see Cadillac and Porsche to be in the top 5. If memory serves me correctly, Lexus was number one. They did go on to say that they (Consumer Reports) felt all of the troubles stemmed from perception. People coming from V8 cars down to 4 cylinder cars. They felt that people complained because the 4 cylinder engines & trannys did not respond as felt they should have.

That is an interesting question. There will be 3 cylinder and 4 cylinder MINI's. They may call the 4 cylinder MCS and the 3 cylinder MC. Since the 3 cylinder makes less power it might still be nicknamed 'Justa'. I hope BMW has solved the turbocharging and direct injection problems. I would guess they believe they have since they are going to use these engines on some of the BMW models.

'Morris' 2011 MC, PW/B 28,000 trouble free miles.

Looks like they are puting the 3 cylinder and four cylinder into the same reliabilty class becuase they both are turbocharged, but I can't see how they can draw any concusions on an yet untested series of enjines in these cars.
Seems they should start from a clean slate as unknown given there really hasn't been enough time to evaluate them.

Here's another report from Consumer Affairs, not very incouraging.

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/mini.html

If you're talking about projected reliability, the reason they're not recommending either right now probably has to do with the fact they have no data on the new re-design. For a car to be on their "recommended" list, it has to have some history of reliabilty average or better and things get reset when a new or heavily revised model ships.

And I don't think they use "the worst of the two". If they're combining them (perhaps the data no longer justifies doing them separately), then they'll use the average data of the two models combined.

- Mark

As far as customer satisfaction goes it is shown in the rating.The truth hurts sometimes but it is reality.I don't see where Mini made a huge attempt to keep their customers satisfied with some poor design problems.They still fight tooth and nail to keep from warrantying bad engineering.

I have an 06 and love it.I wouldnt touch a newer one.These are my feelings and opinion from all the stupid problems I have heard they have had.

And I don't think they use "the worst of the two". If they're combining them (perhaps the data no longer justifies doing them separately), then they'll use the average data of the two models combined.

- Mark[/QUOTE]

Mark,

From 2007 to 2013 Consumer Reports rated the base MINI Cooper as average to better than average. In the 2014 edition they have dropped the rating on most of those years. Why would the ratings that have been so consistant for 7 years drop so dramaticaly in one year?

Byron

'Morris', 2011 MC, PW/B 28,000 trouble free miles

Good question and I don't know. I don't subscribe and would like to see more precisely how things have changed to comment further. But my understanding is the the Cooper has always been pretty borderline on their cutoff so new data or averaging the data a different way could result in tipping it below their cutoff. I was just commenting that your theory that they choose the "worst" car when there is more than one model in a bin isn't something I would expect they would do.

- Mark

I just read through the first page and most of the problems seem to be related to the "S" powertrain and unsatisfactory roadside assistance.

I was puzzled about the one where someone could not get their ignition key to pop out. Does that happen alot?

It will happen in an auto if you leave the car in drive. A friend of mine did that. Not me.
:sly: